Cynthia Rockwell

“My sister’s cancer might have been diagnosed sooner — if doctors could have seen beyond her weight,” wrote Laura Fraser ’82, in an article that detailed how medical personnel ignored her sister Jan's serious symptoms as the whinings of “a fat, complaining older woman.” The article, published on Statnews, a site focused on medicine, health, and science journalism and produced by the Boston Globe Media, received more social media shares, Fraser said, than anything else she has written. Fraser’s first book Losing It: America’s Obsession with Weight and the Industry that Feeds on It (Random House, 1997) had given her a background knowledge of the biases that work against those with obesity and…

Charisse Lillie ’74, an attorney, member of the business community, and a lecturer on issues of diversity and corporate responsibility, will receive the A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award during the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Minority Attorney Conference, “Advocacy and Fundamental Rights for Changing Times.” The award recognizes her accomplishments and dedication to the legal profession and the minority community through civil, community or legal service. Now the CEO of CRL Consulting LLC, she recently retired from Comcast Corporation, where she held senior-level positions. Higginbotham, who died in 1998, was a civic leader, author, academic and federal appeals court judge…

Bobbito Garcia ’88 and DJ Stretch Armstrong are back broadcasting—just like they were in the ’90s. Except: It’s not student radio WKCR at Columbia University; it’s National Public Radio. It’s not in the 1 until 5 a.m. timeslot; it’s an audio-on-demand podcast. And the guests are not the as-yet-undiscovered hip-hop artists. In What’s Good with Stretch and Bobbito, the listener will find Garcia and Armstrong offering smart, lively conversation with trendsetters and cultural icons ranging from Chance The Rapper, to activists Linda Sarsour, to Stevie Wonder. (“The standout interview of my career,” says Garcia, “with the legend of legends.”) (more…)

Next time you’re seeking a caffeine fix in Starbucks, keep your ears open for a song by J.R. Rhodes ’90. Hers is a haunting alto voice—with a throatiness and rich, emotional depth reminiscent of Joan Armatrading—and the song, in a minor key, “Your Pillow,” was the first single released from her album I Am, due out Nov. 3. A music major at Wesleyan and a singer/songwriter since then, Rhodes had released three albums previously: Elixir (2011), Afriqueen Stare (2003) and Songs of Angels (1999). The high-profile single placement, however, is something entirely new. “A career in music can definitely be…

For this year’s First Year Matters program, incoming new students read Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric during the summer before their arrival on campus. Rankine, a noted poet and author, had been on campus for Commencement 2017, when she received an honorary degree and addressed the graduating class. On Sept. 1, Rankine was back at Wesleyan to address the Class of 2021, offering insights into the development of the book. She also entered into a discussion with first-year students, taking questions from the audience, who gave her snaps of approval throughout her talk and a standing ovation at the…

Guns in American Society, this year’s Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, will be held on campus on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-28. Made possible by a generous grant from the Shasha family, the 16th annual event will convene experts, including Wesleyan faculty and administrators, as well as alumni from across the country, to examine current debates about the role of guns in American society and discuss ways of reducing the national incidence of gun violence. According to seminar organizer Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history and science in society and researcher in the history of technology, law and culture, guns are a topic…

In a program jointly sponsored by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, artist Glenn Ligon ’82 joined Dean and Professor of Art History at Northwestern University Huey Copeland for a discussion on Sept. 13 at the Atheneum in Hartford. The two, who noted their longstanding friendship as they began their onstage discussion, explored Ligon’s creative practices and Copeland’s research on the ways African American artists have addressed race in the history of American art. Prior to the conversation, attendees were invited to view the Atheneum's permanent installation of post-2000 contemporary art in…

In this Q&A, we speak with Rob Borman, grounds manager for Physical Plant. "The trees we are planting this year are creating the face of Wesleyan 100 years from now," Borman says. Offering a guided tour of the central campus, he noted recent plantings, the decision process behind those choices, and the history of what felled any previous trees on those spots. He also focused on present details, taking note of the health of the foliage—color and thickness—as well as any recent stressors, like extreme weather or insect-related events, which may be affecting these future giants of Wesleyan. Q: When did you…

What might be most obvious about Tracey Stanley, an administrative assistant in the registrar’s office for 10 years (out of a 20-year total at Wesleyan), is that she is the on-campus go-to “mom” for many students—those she supervises in her office, those who appear at the registrar’s window looking lost, and those she mentors through AFCA, the Administrators and Faculty of Color Association, for which she has served as co-chair. Warm, outspoken, determined and with a strong protective instinct, Stanley also is a union steward. What colleagues might not know is that Stanley is an avid quilter. She began teaching…

This year, Wesleyan's four home football games each offer a highlight to draw fans from near and far to Corwin Stadium on Andrus Field. The first home game, Saturday, Sept. 23, against Tufts, is a night game — "The second home night game in Wesleyan's history," notes Athletic Director Mike Whalen ’83. "I'm thinking of it as our time to focus on Middletown, and we're reaching out to local high schools. Dario Highsmith ’20, a sophomore running back—an outstanding player—graduated from Middletown High. He's a former Gatorade High School Player of the Year, and someone to watch." On Saturday, Oct. 7,…

https://youtu.be/ZnXPMx1Bow8 While still undergraduates, Julie Magruder ’17 and Jackson DuMont ’17 began filming The Face of Kinship Care, a documentary highlighting the important role that familial, but non-parental, caregivers provide in the lives of children. The documentary will be will be shown at Wesleyan—as well as more widely—at 8 p.m., Monday, Sept. 18, at the Powell Family Cinema. September, notes Magruder, is Kinship Care Month in a number of states. Through her work on this film, Magruder has become an advocate for highlighting the importance of kinship caregivers in all states. The project began more than a year ago, when Christine…

Writing in a New York Times opinion piece, Joseph J. Fins ’82, M.D., The E. William Davis, Jr., M.D., Professor of Medical Ethics and the chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medicine, describes the startling case of a young woman thought to be in a vegetative state but later able to communicate through the movement of one eye. In “Brain Injury and the Civil Right We Don’t Think About," Fins says that many seemingly vegetative individuals are misdiagnosed and suffer a loss of personhood and civil rights when they do have some conscious awareness and are,…

Fraser ’82: When Fat-Shaming Precludes Medical Care

Lillie ’74 Receives Higginbotham [Hon. ’96] Lifetime Achievement Award

Garcia ’88 Joins NPR with Weekly Podcast: What’s Good with Stretch and Bobbito

“Your Pillow”: Starbucks Selects Single by Rhodes ’90

Rankine Hon. ’17 Addresses First-Year Students on ‘Citizen’

Shasha Seminar 2017 Convenes Experts on Gun Legislation Debate, Paths Forward, Oct. 27-28

Ligon ’82 Discusses Creative Practices, Race, at Wadsworth Atheneum

Staff Spotlight: Borman Planting Trees for Wesleyan’s Next Century

When the Stars Align: Stanley’s Most Challenging Quilt

4 Home Football Games Highlight Community, Athletes, Service, Alumni

Documentary by Magruder ’17, DuMont ’17 to be Screened Sept. 18 on Campus

Fins ’82 on Civil Rights for Those With Brain Injuries: NYT Op-Ed